PATRIOTISM 


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THE  HIGHER  PATRIOTISM 


THE 
HIGHER  PATRIOTISM 


BY 

JOHN    GRIER';iIBBEN 

PRESIDENT   OF   PRINCETON  UNIVERSITY 


NEW  YORK 

CHARLES   SCRIBNER'S  SONS 

1915 


copyright,  1915,  bt 
Charles  Scribner's  Sons 


Published  June,  1915 


TO 
J.  D.  H. 


PREFATORY   NOTE 

The  essays  and  addresses  which  I 
have  compiled  in  this  volume  have  been 
suggested  by  the  present  European  war. 
The  first,  "  Higher  Patriotism,"  appeared 
in  the  North  American  Review  of  May, 
1915;  the  second,  "Preparedness  and 
Peace,"  is  an  address  which  was  deliv- 
ered at  the  Lake  Mohonk  Conference  on 
International  Arbitration  in  May,  1915; 
the  third,  "Might  or  Right,"  is  an  ad- 
dress which  was  delivered  at  the  Lay- 
men's Efficiency  Convention,  at  Synod 
Hall  of  the  Cathedral  of  St.  John  the 
Divine,  New  York  City,  in  October,  1914; 
the  fourth,  "Martial  Valor  in  Times 
of  Peace,"  is  the  Baccalaureate  Sermon 
which  was  delivered  in  Alexander  Hall 
to  the  graduating  class  of  Princeton 
University,  on  Sunday,  June  13,  1915. 

J.  G.  H. 


CONTENTS 

PAGH 

The  Higher  Patriotism     ....  1 

Preparedness  and  Peace  ....  23 

Might  or  Right 40 

Martial  Valor  in  Times  of  Peace  54 


THE  HIGHER  PATRIOTISM 

When  we  in  America  speak  of  the 
love  which  we  entertain  for  our  coun- 
try, it  is  well  for  us  to  recall  the  va- 
rious phases  of  changing  significance 
through  which  these  words — "our  coun- 
try"— have  passed  during  the  last  one 
hundred  and  fifty  years  of  our  history. 
When  our  fathers  referred  in  loyal  de- 
votion to  "our  country"  they  had  in 
mind  not  only  the  colonies  on  our  At- 
lantic shore,  but  the  mother  country  of 
England  as  well.  Loyalty  was  natu- 
rally British,  for  America  then  belonged 
to  Great  Britain  by  right  of  conquest 
and  possession.  But  it  was  not  possible 
to  hold  our  country  within  the  limits  of 
this  original  sovereignty.  Through  the 
[1] 


THE  HIGHER  PATRIOTISM 

successful  struggle  for  independence  a 
later  generation  of  our  fathers  claimed 
the  land  bought  and  sealed  by  their 
blood  as  belonging  exclusively  to  them- 
selves and  their  children  for  all  time. 
The  former  ideas  of  patriotism  neces- 
sarily experienced  a  like  revolution  and 
were  translated  into  terms  appropriate 
to  a  new  environment  and  a  new  inter- 
pretation of  loyalty.  The  sons  of  the 
English,  Scotch,  and  Dutch  settlers  and 
soldiers  of  the  Revolution  could  proudly 
say:  "This  is  our  country."  And  yet, 
even  as  they  said  this,  our  nation  was 
passing  beyond  their  exclusive  control. 
For  suddenly  men  of  alien  races  and 
alien  tongues  were  sharing  our  birth- 
right with  us.  This  was  not  a  revolu- 
tion, but  an  evolution,  natural,  inevi- 
table. It  was  not  only  the  treasures 
hidden  beneath  the  soil,  and  the  wealth 
of  the  very  soil  itself,  which  lured  these 
strangers  to  our  shores,  but  far  more 
[2] 


THE  HIGHER  PATRIOTISM 

the  spirit  of  liberty  and  the  chance  of 
a  new  life  in  a  new  world. 

And  to-day  not  only  we  of  the  old 
British  stock,  but  also  the  representa- 
tives of  every  race  and  nationality  the 
world  over,  have  the  like  privilege  of 
taking  the  words  "our  country"  upon 
their  lips  with  the  same  enthusiasm  of 
sincere  and  loyal  patriotic  devotion.  We 
are  a  composite  people.  The  ends  of 
the  earth  meet  in  us.  Consequently,  the 
idea  of  patriotism  in  our  land  cannot 
be  racial  or  narrowly  confined.  And 
particularly  it  should  not  be  without  a 
sympathetic  understanding  of  the  needs 
of  humanity.  For  while  we  are  merely 
a  part  of  the  world,  yet  the  whole 
world  is  in  a  certain  sense  a  part  of 
us.  No  corner  of  the  earth,  however 
remote,  is  without  a  representative  some- 
where among  our  people.  The  better 
we  understand  ourselves,  the  better  shall 
we  be  able  to  understand  the  world  at 
[3] 


THE  HIGHER  PATRIOTISM 

large.  Consequently,  our  sympathies  at 
least  must  be  cosmopolitan.  For  us, 
particularly,  it  is  natural  that  the  love 
of  country  should  find  its  complemen- 
tary expression  in  the  love  of  humanity. 
Madame  de  Stael  has  said  that  "the 
patriotism  of  nations  ought  to  be  self- 
ish." This  must  be  interpreted,  how- 
ever, within  certain  limits.  And  it  is 
the  office  of  the  higher  patriotism  to 
define  and  to  transcend  these  limits. 
As  no  individual  dare  live  unto  him- 
self, so  also  no  nation  dare  live  unto 
itself;  it  fails  to  fulfil  its  destiny  if  it 
is  wholly  self-centred  and  self-absorbed. 
But  is  it  natural  to  love  a  stranger  and 
an  alien  as  we  love  our  own  kin  and 
kind?  Most  assuredly  it  is,  if  we  are 
discriminating  as  regards  the  sense  in 
which  we  use  the  word  "love."  The 
word  indeed  has  two  quite  distinct  mean- 
ings. There  is  the  love  which  is  identi- 
fied with  affection — that  affection  which 
[4] 


THE  HIGHER  PATRIOTISM 

is  bred  of  intimate  intercourse  and  com- 
munity of  interests  and  desires.  It  is 
the  love  we  cherish  for  the  inner  circle 
of  family  and  friends.  There  is,  how- 
ever, another  sense  in  which  we  use  the 
term  "love."  It  is  in  this  sense  that 
we  are  exhorted  to  love  our  neighbor  as 
ourselves — nay,  to  love  even  our  ene- 
mies. This  type  of  love  is  quite  an- 
other matter.  It  signifies  a  certain  atti- 
tude toward  all  mankind,  showing  itself 
in  a  twofold  manner  in  a  disposition 
to  respect  every  man's  rights  and 
a  willingness  to  minister  to  his  needs. 
"To  do  justice,  to  love  mercy":  these 
are  the  cardinal  doctrines  both  of  relig- 
ion and  morality,  according  to  the  old 
Hebrew  prophet.  It  is  easier  to  obey 
the  second  than  the  first  of  these  com- 
mands. It  is  easier  to  respond  to  the 
appeal— especially  when  it  comes  to  us 
at  a  time  of  calamity  and  wide-spread 
suffering — to  love  those  in  distress  and 
[5] 


THE  HIGHER  PATRIOTISM 

to  give  them  true  sympathy  and  sub- 
stantial aid,  than  it  is  to  maintain  both 
the  spirit  and  the  letter  of  justice  in 
our  dealings  with  those  who  are  not  in 
distress  and  who  neither  ask  nor  need 
help  of  us.  Nevertheless,  the  love  of  our 
fellow  men  is  only  a  name,  and  there- 
fore a  mockery,  unless  it  recognizes  and 
respects  the  law  of  just  and  fair  deal- 
ing not  only  between  man  and  man, 
but  between  nation  and  nation  as 
well.  It  is  of  little  avail  to  show  mercy 
to  those  from  whom  we  have  withheld 
justice.  Compensation  for  injury  does 
not  absolve  us  from  the  guilt  of  inflict- 
ing the  injury.  Love  for  the  peoples  of 
other  lands,  beyond  our  borders,  with 
whom  we  may  be  brought  into  more  or 
less  intimate  relations  means,  primarily 
and  essentially,  a  disposition  to  deal 
fairly  with  the  alien  nation  irrespective 
of  the  circumstance  as  to  whether  that 
nation  is  weaker  or  stronger  than  ours. 
[6] 


THE  HIGHER  PATRIOTISM 

We  need  to-day  particularly  clear 
thinking  and  strong  conviction,  upon 
this  fundamental  principle  of  conduct. 
This  truth  requires  no  explanation.  It 
does  not  wait  upon  proof.  It  needs  only 
to  be  emphasized  and  driven  home,  so 
that  it  may  become  not  only  a  matter 
of  individual  appropriation,  but  also 
a  part  of  patriotic  tradition.  This  is 
the  time  to  reassert  our  political  con- 
victions as  regards  the  relations  of  our 
country  to  all  peoples  of  the  earth.  We 
should  recognize  the  moral  foundations 
upon  which  a  nation  must  rest  if  its 
stability  is  to  remain  secure. 

Where  do  we  find  the  clearest  ex- 
pression of  the  moral  worth  and  moral 
grandeur  of  this  idea  of  justice  both 
individual  and  national?  Where  do  we 
find  the  most  profound  recognition  of 
the  sovereign  nature  of  the  law  of  jus- 
tice? Without  question,  in  Germany. 
It  is  not  von  Treitschke,  nor  Nietzsche, 
[7] 


THE  HIGHER  PATRIOTISM 

nor  Bernhardt  who  speaks  for  Germany 
or  who  represents  the  German  tradi- 
tion. They  may  represent  the  spirit  of 
their  age,  but  it  is  an  age  that  is  passing. 
It  is  Immanuel  Kant,  the  great  German 
philosopher  and  prophet,  who  expresses 
Germany's  most  profound  thought  in 
words  which  have  an  eternal  signifi- 
cance. I  call  him  a  prophet  because 
he  speaks  for  his  people,  and  indeed 
for  other  peoples  also  and  for  all  times; 
his  is  a  universal  language.  His  philos- 
ophy is  rigorous,  uncompromising  in  its 
insistence  upon  a  profound  reverence  for 
the  law  of  justice  and  an  obedient  sur- 
render to  its  commands.  And  this  law 
finds  expression  with  him  in  two  fun- 
damental moral  maxims.  First,  always 
act  as  you  would  wish  to  if  that  action 
were  to  become  a  universal  law.  Sec- 
ond, always  treat  man  as  an  end  in  him- 
self, and  never  merely  as  a  means  to  an 
end.  That  is,  our  individual  conduct 
[8] 


THE  HIGHER  PATRIOTISM 

must  be  judged  by  a  standard  which 
admits  of  universal  application.  Our 
convenience,  or  necessity,  or  desire,  or 
indeed  any  particular  consideration  what- 
soever, cannot  be  weighed  against  the 
universal  demands  of  the  law  of  right. 
Moral  law  admits  of  no  particular  in- 
terpretation. What  is  right  for  one  is 
right  for  all.  What  is  duty  for  one 
is  duty  for  all. 

The  second  maxim  insists  upon  the 
supreme  consideration  which  is  due  the 
rights  of  human  personality.  Man  as 
such  is  to  be  regarded  as  an  end  in 
himself.  He  is  not  a  thing,  but  a  per- 
son, and  to  treat  him  as  a  person  is 
the  first  law  of  all  human  relationship. 
Kant,  moreover,  believed  that  these  doc- 
trines were  applicable  to  nations  as  well 
as  to  individuals.  He  dreamed  his  dream 
of  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  living  to- 
gether in  a  federation  of  mutual  respect 
and  friendly  co-operation,  a  dream  of 
[9] 


THE  HIGHER  PATRIOTISM 

universal  peace.  One  day  it  may  be 
realized.  Whatever  his  dream  may  be, 
his  teaching  as  to  individual  and  na- 
tional duty  is  clear,  and  with  the  voice 
of  a  prophet  he  spoke  to  the  German 
people  nearly  a  century  and  a  half  ago, 
and  he  is  speaking  to  Germany  again  to- 
day, and,  indeed,  to  all  nations  of  the 
earth,  for  his  message  is  not  for  any  par- 
ticular land  or  any  particular  time,  but 
for  every  age  and  every  people.  And  we 
do  well  to  give  heed  to  his  message.  There 
is  always  danger  of  injustice  through  a 
false  idea  of  patriotism.  It  is  a  funda- 
mental moral  fallacy  that  any  act  whatso- 
ever, done  as  a  supposed  service  to  one's 
county,  is  thereby  self -justified.  We  dare 
not  disregard  the  rights  of  others  for  the 
sake  of  a  nation's  glory.  The  strong  na- 
tion dare  not  exploit  the  weaker  for  its 
own  advantage  either  in  war  or  in  peace. 
A  nation,  as  an  individual,  has  a  personal- 
ity which  must  be  respected.  This  marks 
[  10  1 


THE  HIGHER  PATRIOTISM 

the  limit  of  national  self-assertion  and 
self-aggrandizement.  Necessity  is  no  ex- 
cuse for  injustice.  The  plea  of  neces- 
sity seeks  to  particularize  the  universal 
law  of  right.  Kant's  voice  is  raised  in 
protest  against  such  procedure.  The 
German  tradition  of  moral  integrity  and 
honor  is  against  it.  As  Kant  has  in- 
sisted, there  is  only  one  necessity  in  the 
whole  world,  and  that  is  the  necessity 
of  obeying  the  law  of  right.  Germany 
of  the  past  appeals  to  Germany  of  the 
present  in  words  which  have  been  so 
often  heard  in  the  philosophical  discus- 
sions of  the  last  century — "Back  to 
Kant."  They  apply  as  well  to  the  su- 
perficial political  philosophy  of  the  day. 
I  profoundly  believe  that  the  most  sig- 
nificant result  of  the  present  European 
conflict  will  be  to  establish  one  and  the 
same  ethical  standard  alike  for  nations 
as  for  individuals,  so  that  national  pledges 
will  be  jealously  guarded  from  reproach 
[11} 


THE  HIGHER  PATRIOTISM 

and  shame.  The  common  sense  and  the 
common  conscience  of  the  people  will 
demand  this. 

The  world  has  been  very  slow  in 
recognizing  the  moral  responsibility  of  a 
nation.  Indeed,  in  the  evolution  of  our 
ethical  concepts  there  are  three  distinct 
stages  which  mark  the  progress  of  hu- 
manity toward  a  more  adequate  reali- 
zation of  the  fundamental  principles  of 
morality.  The  first  is  the  stage  of  in- 
dividual self-realization  in  which  the 
chief  concern  of  life  seems  to  centre  in 
maintaining  the  existence  of  the  indi- 
vidual and  promoting  his  self-seeking 
desires.  The  second  stage  marks  the 
awakening  of  the  social  conscience,  where 
one  comes  to  recognize  his  duties  to  his 
fellows  and  the  obligation  which  he  is 
under  to  preserve  their  lives  and  to  pro- 
mote their  welfare  as  well  as  his  own. 
In  the  third  stage  there  is  the  recogni- 
tion not  merely  of  the  obligation  which 
[  12] 


THE  HIGHER  PATRIOTISM 

the  individual  owes  to  others,  but  also 
the  obligation  which  the  social  group 
itself,  whether  the  clan  or  the  tribe  or 
the  nation,  owes  to  other  social  groups 
with  which  it  comes  in  contact.  This 
third  stage  is  in  the  process  of  realiza- 
tion. It  has  not  as  yet  been  fully  at- 
tained. We  are  developing,  however, 
toward  a  clearer  apprehension  of  our  in- 
terracial and  international  obligations. 
Much  still  remains  to  be  thought,  to  be 
felt,  and  to  be  done.  We  as  a  nation 
have  established  a  tradition  of  fair  deal- 
ing with  other  nations.  It  must  not 
only  be  maintained  in  the  same  spirit 
as  that  which  characterizes  our  rela- 
tions with  Cuba,  or  with  China — as  in 
the  return  to  that  country  of  our  indem- 
nity fund — but  we  must  also  endeavor 
to  discern  our  responsibility  and  to  in- 
terpret it  in  the  light  of  the  larger  events 
and  the  greater  needs  of  the  world. 
It  is  perhaps  not  necessary  to  urge 
[13] 


THE  HIGHER  PATRIOTISM 

the  necessity  of  expressing  an  active 
sympathy  and  assistance  as  regards 
those  who  at  present  are  overwhelmed 
by  the  disaster  of  the  European  w^ar.  To 
help  at  such  a  time  as  this  is  not  merely 
a  duty — it  is  an  instinct.  And  our 
country  has  responded  to  the  call  which 
has  come  across  the  sea  in  a  manner 
so  prompt,  so  generous,  so  altogether 
admirable,  as  clearly  to  reveal  the  great 
heart  of  the  Western  world.  The  need 
of  suffering  humanity  is  to-day  bring- 
ing America  and  Europe  nearer  together. 
Not  only  has  our  heart  been  touched, 
but  our  imagination  has  been  so  stim- 
ulated that  we  do  not  find  it  difficult 
to  recognize  the  foreigner  as  our  brother. 
In  a  very  vivid  sense  we  are  conscious 
that  we  too  are  carrying  the  burden  of 
the  world's  misery.  There  is  certainly  no 
room  for  national  complacency,  no  oc- 
casion for  national  congratulation,  be- 
cause we  are  free  from  the  great  war's 
[14] 


THE  HIGHER  PATRIOTISM 

toll  of  life  and  of  possessions.  We  too 
feel  constrained  to  go  down  into  the 
valley  of  the  shadow  of  death  with  our 
brother;  for  the  shadow  which  has 
fallen  upon  the  Old  World  is  upon  the 
New  also. 

After  this  war  is  concluded  and  the 
day  of  peace  begins  to  dawn  there  must 
immediately  follow  a  period  of  recon- 
struction— not  only  a  reconstruction  of 
material  resources,  but  also  a  reorgani- 
zation of  the  fundamental  ideas  and 
purposes  of  life.  Our  part  must  neces- 
sarily be  a  large  one,  for  we  must  lend 
our  strength  to  the  nations  weakened 
by  the  ravages  of  war.  We  can  no 
longer  claim  that  we  are  freed  from 
the  complications  of  Old  World  affairs, 
and  from  all  responsibility  concerning 
them,  because  of  our  isolation.  The 
separation  of  the  two  continents  is  not 
wholly  measured  by  space,  but  by  time 
as  well,  and  time  has  been  so  enor- 
[  15] 


THE  HIGHER  PATRIOTISM 

mously  decreased,  and  communication 
has  been  made  such  an  immediate  af- 
fair, that  we  can  no  longer  feel  that  we 
in  America  live  in  a  world  of  our  own. 
We  are  passing  through  times  in  which 
the  spirit  and  temper  of  great  peoples 
are  being  tried  as  by  fire,  and  we  must 
appreciate  the  fact  that  as  a  nation  we 
must  do  our  part  in  the  great  endeavor 
to  save  the  soul  of  the  world  and  es- 
tablish the  things  which  remain.  In 
Europe  the  continuity  of  civilization  for 
the  time  being  has  been  interrupted. 
Industry,  commerce,  art,  science,  litera- 
ture, education,  international  intercourse, 
have  been  checked  or  have  ceased  alto- 
gether. The  flower  of  young  manhood, 
the  hope  and  the  promise  of  the  com- 
ing generation,  have  been  sacrificed. 
Light  has  given  place  to  darkness,  life 
to  death.  Much  that  has  been  gained 
in  centuries  of  progress  has  been  irrep- 
arably lost.  All  the  forces  of  civiliza- 
[  16] 


THE  HIGHER  PATRIOTISM 

tion  which  make  for  peace  and  prosperity 
and  the  joy  of  life  continue,  however,  here 
in  America  unbroken  and  undiminished. 

We  hold  in  our  hands  the  threads  of 
the  past  and  of  the  future;  not  one  of 
them  is  broken.  There  is  therefore  a 
peculiar  obligation  resting  upon  us  to 
conserve  these  treasures  of  human  crea- 
tion which  make  for  peace  and  the  wel- 
fare of  mankind.  After  these  days  of 
desolation  have  passed  there  is  need  of  a 
new  heaven  and  a  new  earth.  The  world 
must  become  better;  and  it  is  our  privi- 
lege as  well  as  our  duty  to  put  forth 
every  effort  to  make  it  better.  There- 
fore, in  this  period  of  anxiety  and  un- 
certainty it  would  be  well  for  us  con- 
sciously and  seriously  to  consider  how 
we  may  better  prepare  ourselves  for  the 
task  which  will  surely  devolve  upon  us: 
the  labor  of  building  anew  the  world. 

There  is  certainly  need  at  this  time  of 
transition  that  we  should  establish  a  new 
[  17] 


THE  HIGHER  PATRIOTISM 

scale  of  values  in  our  estimate  of  life. 
We  have  become,  during  the  past  gener- 
ation particularly,  too  prone  to  estimate 
the  reality  of  all  values  in  terms  of  that 
which  we  can  weigh  or  measure  or  count. 
But  material  standards  are  not  sufficient 
to  express  those  values  which  possess  su- 
preme worth.  Even  in  the  handling  of 
material  things  in  the  midst  of  a  world 
of  practical  business  affairs  we  must  set 
for  ourselves  some  standard  which  in  it- 
self is  not  material.  In  the  throes  of 
its  new  birth  the  world  to-day  needs  a 
new  industrial  conscience,  a  new  sense  of 
social  responsibility,  a  new  standard  of 
national  integrity.  We  must  realize  that 
the  strength  of  a  nation  lies  ultimately 
not  in  its  natural  resources,  or  in  its 
methods  of  efficiency,  or  in  its  numer- 
ical superiority,  or  in  its  army  or  navy, 
but  in  its  moral  and  spiritual  vigor.  All 
of  us  are  one  in  our  desire  to  have  peace, 
peace  universal  and  permanent  which 
[18] 


THE  HIGHER  PATRIOTISM 

will  dominate  the  world,  but  it  is  im- 
possible to  command  peace  or  to  seek 
peace  as  such  directly.  We  can  secure 
peace  only  by  striving  to  realize  in  our 
lives  the  things  which  make  for  peace. 
It  is  not  a  matter  of  resolution,  but  of 
consecration.  If  we  seek  righteousness 
and  cause  it  to  prevail  in  the  world, 
peace  will  inevitably  follow. 

It  is  no  light  task;  and  that  we  may 
be  prepared  for  the  opportunity  when 
it  comes  we  must  be  willing  to  submit 
ourselves  to  the  discipline  of  self-re- 
straint. We  must  learn  to  endure  hard- 
ness and  to  simplify  our  mode  of  living. 
It  is  not  merely  that  we  as  a  people  have 
enjoyed  too  much  ease  and  too  great 
luxury,  but  we  have  sacrificed  too  much 
for  this  luxury  and  this  ease.  We  need 
the  strength  that  is  born  of  self-denial. 
We  should  be  ashamed  to  waste  our  time 
and  energy  in  profitless  pursuits  while 
our  brothers  are  agonizing  in  this  death- 
f  19  1 


THE  HIGHER  PATRIOTISM 

struggle  of  the  nations;  ashamed  also 
to  waste  our  money  or  indulge  ourselves 
in  unnecessary  expenditure  while  our 
brothers  are  starving  and  destitute.  In 
spite  of  the  noise  of  battle,  a  sacred 
stillness  has  fallen  upon  the  world  which 
we  even  in  our  pleasures  must  both 
recognize  and  respect.  It  is  necessary 
also  to  appreciate  that  the  work  before 
the  coming  generation  is  to  be  in  a  new 
day,  a  day  of  larger  opportunity,  of  more 
exacting  demands,  of  heavier  burdens. 
Only  the  strong  man  will  be  adequate 
to  the  task.  If  he  is  to  be  ready  when 
the  call  comes,  there  must  be  a  fine 
tempering  of  his  soul.  It  is  a  matter 
not  only  of  efficiency  or  of  skill,  but  of 
the  living  sources  of  power. 

It  may  be  urged  that  the  duty  to 
which  I  am  referring  is  exceedingly  in- 
definite. That  may  be  true,  because 
the  highest  order  of  duty  is  always  indef- 
inite. The  supreme  responsibility  which 
rests  upon  us  all  is  that  of  discovering 
[  20] 


THE  HIGHER  PATRIOTISM 

for  ourselves  the  duty  which  marks  the 
line  of  greatest  possible  service.  I  be- 
lieve that  the  will  to  serve  will  always 
find  the  way. 

The  coming  generation,  which  is  to 
make  new  history  for  the  new  world, 
may  well  pledge  "The  Day"  with  all  ea- 
gerness and  enthusiasm — that  day  when 
they  will  be  called  upon  to  realize  the 
sublime  idea  of  patriotic  devotion,  the 
nation  for  the  world's  service.  It  is 
true  of  nations  as  of  individuals  that 
the  greatest  must  become  servant  of  all. 
A  man  will  serve  his  country  according 
to  the  degree  and  extent  of  the  idea 
which  he  has  conceived  of  his  country's 
mission  and  destiny  in  ministering  to 
the  intellectual,  moral,  and  spiritual 
needs  of  the  world  at  large.  The  great- 
est achievements  of  the  greatest  nations 
have  been  their  international  contribu- 
tions to  the  treasures  of  human  thought 
and  human  feeling  irrespective  of  race 
traditions  or  national  frontiers.     Greece, 


THE  HIGHER  PATRIOTISM 

Rome,  Italy,  France,  England,  Germany, 
are  great  not  by  might  nor  by  power, 
but  by  virtue  of  their  philosophy,  their 
art,  their  law,  their  religion,  their  sci- 
ence, and  their  literature;  by  all  the 
discoveries  and  inventions  of  the  mind 
of  man  which  have  increased  the  di- 
mensions of  human  life  in  its  length  and 
breadth  and  depth.  What  they  have 
done  exclusively  for  themselves  passes 
away;  what  they  have  done  for  the  world 
remains.  For  a  nation  to  place  all  peo- 
ples of  all  lands  under  a  debt  of  con- 
scious obligation  because  of  her  service 
to  humanity,  to  send  forth  light  from 
her  high  places  to  illumine  the  earth,  to 
realize  within  herself  that  righteousness 
which  exalteth  a  nation,  to  champion 
the  cause  of  justice,  and  to  sacrifice  the 
glory  of  conquest  for  the  reign  of  uni- 
versal peace — this  is  indeed  to  conquer 
the  world.  And  happy  are  they  who 
have  a  part  in  it. 

[  22  ] 


PREPAREDNESS  AND  PEACE 

The  proposition  which  should  meet  with 
the  thoughtful  and  tolerant  considera- 
tion of  every  American  citizen  is  this, 
that  the  policy  of  a  wise  preparedness 
of  our  military  forces  in  the  United 
States  is  not  incompatible  with  the  great 
peace  movement  which  this  gathering 
represents.  I  do  not  advocate  prepared- 
ness for  war,  but  a  preparedness  against 
war — a  preparedness  which  in  the  event 
of  the  catastrophe  of  war  itself  will  pre- 
vent the  enormous  initial  sacrifice  of 
human  lives  which  has  characterized 
every  war  in  which  the  United  States 
have  been  engaged  throughout  our  past 
history. 

It  is  to  me  a  matter  of  serious  con- 
cern that  even  the  most  extreme  advo- 
[  23] 


PREPAREDNESS  AND   PEACE 

cates  of  non-resistance  at  the  particular 
time  of  this  great  world  crisis  should 
welcome  the  support  and  co-operation  of 
those  who  may  differ  with  them  on  the 
subject  of  national  preparedness,  but  who 
are  quite  as  eager  and  enthusiastic  to 
proclaim  and  maintain  the  cause  of  uni- 
versal peace.  I  deplore  the  lack  of  tol- 
erance on  the  part  of  certain  pacifists  in 
their  obvious  scorn  of  those  who  would 
temper  zeal  with  wisdom  in  the  effort 
to  prepare  against  the  possibility  of  war, 
while  at  the  same  time  putting  forth 
every  effort  to  secure  the  blessings  of  a 
permanent  peace.  No  cause  is  ever  pro- 
moted by  a  spirit  of  Pharisaism,  and  I 
for  one  object  to  being  regarded  as  view- 
ing the  subject  from  a  less  elevated  moral 
plane  because  I  believe  that  the  policy  of 
preparedness  is  a  matter  of  pressing  na- 
tional duty.  In  this  great  world  cam- 
paign to  establish  that  universal  moral 
order  which  is  the  sole  guarantee  of 
[  U  ] 


PREPAREDNESS  AND  PEACE 

peace,  no  one  should  repudiate  the  con- 
victions and  efforts  of  those  who  with 
heart  and  soul  seek  the  same  end  as 
himself. 

There  is  no  virtue  in  providing  an 
inadequate  defense  of  our  land.  There 
are  only  two  logical  positions  to  take  in 
reference  to  this  question.  One  is  that 
a  country  such  as  ours  should  completely 
disarm  and  offer  no  defense  whatsoever 
to  any  foe,  or,  on  the  other  hand,  that 
it  should  plan  wisely  and  systematically 
an  adequate  defense.  I  assume  that 
there  is  no  one  at  the  present  time  so 
ignorant  of  the  spirit  of  the  American 
people  that  he  would  not  be  willing  to 
admit  the  truth  of  the  following  propo- 
sition, namely — that  if  our  country  is 
drawn  into  any  war,  although  against 
our  will  and  against  our  desire,  we  will 
nevertheless  fight  to  the  finish  for  our 
national  honor  and  integrity.  It  would 
be  entirely  futile  even  to  discuss  the 
[25] 


PREPAREDNESS  AND  PEACE 

question  as  to  the  advisability  of  our 
country  at  the  present  time  or  in  the 
near  future  wiping  out  its  army  and 
navy  and  pursuing  the  policy  of  absolute 
non-resistance.  Therefore,  if  we  have 
an  army  and  navy  which  no  doubt  would 
be  used  in  the  time  of  a  national  emer- 
gency, what  conceivable  idea  of  moral 
obligation  do  we  violate  in  insisting  that 
the  forces  of  such  an  army  and  navy 
should  be  efficient  instead  of  inefficient, 
should  be  adequate  instead  of  inade- 
quate ?  No  one,  moreover,  can  deny  that 
our  present  military  equipment,  particu- 
larly our  army,  has  certain  defects  which 
it  would  seem  to  be  a  wise  policy  to 
remedy  at  once.  It  is  well  known  that 
we  have  only  90,000  widely  scattered 
mobile  troops  available  for  defense,  of 
which  60,000  are  militia,  and  it  would 
take  thirty  days  after  any  enemy  landed 
on  our  shores  to  concentrate  the  forces 
of  the  militia.  Behind  this  army  we 
\  26  1 


PREPAREDNESS  AND  PEACE 

have  no  reserves  to  speak  of,  and  a 
deplorable  shortage  of  men  and  guns  in 
our  regular  field-artillery.  We  possess 
less  than  half  of  the  needed  military 
field-batteries,  and  it  would  require  three 
months'  training  to  make  those  which 
we  have  of  any  avail  against  the  forces 
of  an  enemy.  In  the  army  reports  it  is 
stated  that  it  would  be  a  year  and  a 
half  after  any  foreign  enemy  landed  on 
our  shores  before  we  could  provide  ade- 
quate field-artillery,  ammunition  trains, 
and  ammunition. 

In  view  of  these  facts,  the  dictates  of 
common  sense  certainly  would  suggest 
that  we  should  prepare  reasonably  for 
an  emergency  which  it  might  be  neces- 
sary for  us  to  meet  by  armed  resistance. 
The  only  valid  excuse,  however,  for  fail- 
ing to  prepare  adequately  for  such  a  pos- 
sible emergency  is  the  conviction  that 
it  would  be  wrong  for  us  as  a  nation 
to  take  up  arms  in  any  event  whatso- 
[27] 


PREPAREDNESS  AND  PEACE 

ever.  No  one  can  be  so  blind  regarding 
the  significance  of  present  conditions  as 
to  take  the  position  that  a  grave  na- 
tional emergency  is  not  at  least  a  pos- 
sibility. I  am  aware  of  the  fact  that 
there  are  many  who  would  urge  that 
there  is  no  such  thing  as  preparedness 
against  war,  but  insist  that  the  military 
preparedness  of  a  nation  gives  occasion 
for  war  by  provoking  an  aggressive  mili- 
tary spirit.  I  do  not  believe  this.  Pre- 
paredness does  not  necessarily  mean  a 
nation  in  arms  or  a  nation  inflamed  by 
the  false  dreams  of  a  militaristic  des- 
tiny. This  is  conspicuously  illustrated 
in  the  case  of  Switzerland.  They  are 
naturally  a  peace-loving  people.  They 
also  love  liberty,  and  therefore  have  pre- 
pared themselves  to  defend  their  lib- 
erty against  the  world.  They  love  peace, 
and  therefore  are  prepared  to  fight  that 
war  may  not  cross  their  borders.  They 
are  in  no  sense  a  military  nation  and 
[  28  1 


PREPAREDNESS  AND  PEACE 

I  believe  that  the  establishment  of  a 
citizen  reserve  force  such  as  that  of 
Switzerland  in  no  sense  leads  to  mil- 
itarism. 

What  is  militarism?  It  is  the  mad- 
ness of  a  nation.  Militarism  is  not 
created  by  the  army,  but  the  nature  and 
scope  of  the  army  is  determined  by  the 
policy  of  militarism.  Militarism  is  a 
theory  of  state.  Where  militarism  ex- 
ists the  government  is  a  part  of  the 
army,  instead  of  the  army  being  a  part 
of  the  government.  With  militarism  the 
idea  of  war  dominates  even  the  pursuits 
of  peace;  and  war  becomes  a  public  pol- 
icy for  the  expansion  of  the  country's 
territory  and  the  development  of  its 
resources.  Militarism  is  the  internal  con- 
trol of  the  whole  machinery  of  govern- 
ment in  times  of  peace  as  well  as  in 
times  of  war.  It  means  a  military  caste 
and  all  the  pomp  and  circumstance  of 
insolent  power  which  thinks  imperially 


PREPAREDNESS  AND  PEACE 

and  prosecutes  the  policies  of  an  ag- 
gressive world  domination.  Its  ethic  is 
the  maxim  that  the  end  justifies  the 
means;  its  religion  is  the  idea  of  a  tri- 
bal God  of  battles  whose  favor  is  propi- 
tiated by  the  blood  of  its  sons  sacri- 
ficed on  the  high  altar  of  national  glory 
and  fame;  its  inspiration,  the  love  of 
conquest,  the  greed  of  power,  and  the 
passion  of  hate.  I  insist  that  all  of  the 
traditions  of  our  country  are  fundamen- 
tally opposed  to  this  conception  of  gov- 
ernment and  of  national  destiny.  Every 
conviction  and  every  sentiment  of  our 
past  challenges  the  mere  suggestion  of 
this  state  of  affairs.  Preparedness  for 
defense  on  our  part  can  never  degener- 
ate into  military  display  and  military 
insolence,  so  long  as  our  people  remain 
loyal  to  those  ideas  which  throughout 
our  history  have  fashioned  and  directed 
our  national  policy.  Militarism  and  the 
love  of  war  for  war's  sake   are   due  to 

[30] 


PREPAREDNESS  AND  PEACE 

a  perverted  vision  and  a  false  idea  of 
patriotism,  and  democratic  America 
is  naturally  hostile  to  any  suggestion 
of  the  autocratic  military  domination 
of  our  government  and  of  our  institu- 
tions. 

It  is  not  sufficient  in  this  day  merely 
to  cry,  Peace !  Peace  !  We  must  face  the 
undeniable  reality  of  things  as  they  are 
and  endeavor  to  think  clearly  and  act 
sanely  concerning  the  actual  conditions 
both  present  and  future  of  our  national 
life.  We  cannot  command  peace  merely 
by  raising  our  voices  and  summoning  it 
to  be  and  to  prevail.  Peace  is  not  a 
matter  merely  of  engrossed  resolutions 
or  of  fervent  sentimental  appeal.  The 
lack  of  preparedness  to  meet  any  great 
national  emergency  which  may  prove  a 
national  calamity  does  not  in  itself  cre- 
ate peace.  It  may  only  serve  to  inten- 
sify and  prolong  the  horrors  of  war.  We 
secure  peace  not  by  seeking  it  directly 
[  31  1 


PREPAREDNESS  AND  PEACE 

or  by  invoking  it,  but  by  the  endeavor 
to  create  and  maintain  those  influences 
which  make  for  peace. 

I  am  not  in  sympathy  with  the  peace 
propaganda  which  is  being  prosecuted  in 
many  of  our  schools,  so  far  at  least  as  it 
endeavors  to  quicken  the  peace  senti- 
ment by  impressing  upon  the  minds  of 
the  young  children  the  horrors  or  the 
economical  losses  of  war.  Such  an  ap- 
peal never  makes  any  profound  or  per- 
manent impression  upon  young  minds. 
It  is  purely  utilitarian  and  there  is  some- 
thing about  youth  which  is  impatient 
with  the  balancing  of  the  profit-and-loss 
elements  in  any  adventure  of  life.  In 
my  experience  in  dealing  with  young 
men  through  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
century  I  know  that  there  is  only  one 
kind  of  appeal  which  ever  reaches  their 
conviction  and  commands  their  resolu- 
tion— it  is  the  appeal  to  their  moral 
sense  of  right,  of  justice,  of  fair  play, 
[  32] 


PREPAREDNESS  AND  PEACE 

and  of  decent  dealing,  man  with  man,  in 
all  the  relations  of  life. 

In  an  effort  to  inaugurate  an  era  of 
universal  peace,  we  must  begin  by  the 
endeavor  to  promote  the  universal  recog- 
nition of  the  fundamental  distinction  be- 
tween right  and  wrong,  between  good 
and  evil.  It  should  be  the  aim  of  the 
instruction  in  every  school  and  college 
in  the  country  "to  make  certain  things 
impossible,  and  to  make  action  against 
them  instinctive,  with  an  instinct,  like 
a  trained  habit,  that  is  above  reason." 
Let  us  teach  our  youth  that  righteous- 
ness exalteth  a  nation,  and  that  sin  is  a 
reproach  to  any  people;  that  there  is 
one  law  of  righteousness  for  the  nation 
and  for  the  individual,  that  the  obliga- 
tion to  recognize  and  respect  treaty 
rights  is  as  binding  upon  a  people  as 
contract  obligations  are  binding  upon  in- 
dividuals, that  the  claims  of  the  weaker 
individual  for  just  and  even  merciful 
[  33  1 


PREPAREDNESS  AND  PEACE 

considerations  have  no  greater  validity 
than  those  of  a  weaker  nation;  that 
there  should  be  in  the  mind  of  every 
American  youth  the  complete  elimina- 
tion of  race  prejudice,  and  in  its  stead 
the  fostering  of  an  enlarged  sympathy 
with  every  child  of  humanity  on  the 
face  of  the  whole  earth;  and  withal  an 
ever-expanding  conception  of  the  being 
and  nature  of  God,  that  he  is  the  God 
not  of  our  country  alone,  or  of  any 
race  or  any  tribe,  but  the  Lord  of  the 
world,  and  that  no  people  are  of  such 
superior  breed  as  to  claim  the  monopoly 
of  God.  This  is  the  true  propaganda  of 
peace !  Let  our  rising  generation  be  in- 
vigorated by  these  elemental  principles 
of  individual,  national,  and  international 
righteousness  and  then  we  may  hope  to 
hail  the  dawn  of  the  day  of  peace.  The 
nations  of  the  world  will  be  prepared 
for  international  arbitration  as  soon  as 
they  have  been  schooled  in  realizing  the 
[34] 


PREPAREDNESS  AND  PEACE 

significance  of  international  obligation. 
It  is  reverence  for  law  which  begets  the 
spirit  of  peace. 

There  are  two  fallacies  whose  opera- 
tion in  the  minds  of  men  tends  to  ob- 
struct the  progress  of  peace.  I  do  not 
know  whether  to  characterize  them  as 
fallacies  of  reason,  or  fallacies  of  in- 
clination. The  one  comes  to  us  out  of 
the  past,  the  other  is  the  product  of 
this  present  European  war.  The  first 
concerns  the  idea  of  national  sovereignty. 
It  is  expressed  in  the  words:  "There  is 
no  law  above  the  state."  No  more 
damnable  doctrine  was  ever  uttered.  It 
is  the  root  of  all  militarism.  This  con- 
ception of  the  prerogative  of  the  state 
is  the  greatest  obstacle  to-day  to  the 
consummation  of  the  reign  of  universal 
peace.  Above  every  sovereign  state  there 
are  the  immutable  laws  of  righteousness 
and  the  eternal  decrees  of  God.  It  will 
be  of  little  avail  for  us  to  depict  the 
[35] 


PREPAREDNESS  AND  PEACE 

horrors  of  war  and  the  blessings  of  peace 
unless  we  can  instruct  and  inspire  the 
youth  of  our  land  to 

"Believe  truth  and  justice  draw 
From  founts  of  everlasting  law." 

The  second  fallacy  is  that  this  pres- 
ent terrible  war  has  developed  certain 
practises  and  usages  which  will  revolu- 
tionize the  accepted  restrictions  of  inter- 
national law  so  that  hereafter  all  imme- 
morial obligations  of  nation  to  nation  in 
a  state  of  war  will  be  swept  away.  I  am 
willing  to  admit  that  after  the  closing 
act  of  this  great  world  tragedy  there  will 
emerge  a  new  international  law,  but 
I  will  not  allow  for  a  moment  that  the 
nations  of  the  earth  are  capable  of  re- 
turning to  a  barbarous  code  of  interna- 
tional relations.  On  the  contrary,  I  am 
persuaded  that  international  ethics  will 
be  placed  on  a  higher  and  more  secure 
plane  than  ever  before. 
[36] 


PREPAREDNESS  AND  PEACE 

It  is  the  weakest  kind  of  sentimental- 
ism  gone  mad  to  imagine  that  the  cause 
of  peace  is  in  the  remotest  degree  ad- 
vanced by  teaching  the  children  of  the 
public  schools  to  sing  the  doggerel  rhyme 
beginning   with    the    line:     "I    did   not 
raise  my  boy  to  be  a  soldier."     What 
does  any  parent  know  as  to  the  destiny 
of  his  child?     How  can  he  possibly  say 
that  he  did  not  raise  his  son  for  any 
purpose  whatsoever?     If  he  has  reared 
him  in  the  spirit  of  service  and  has  in- 
spired within  him  a  passion  for  duty,  it 
is  certain  that  his  child  can  never  es- 
cape some  service  of  honor  and  indeed 
may  be  nobly  doomed  to  a  life  of  sac- 
rifice and   the   death  of  a  hero.     Two 
Princeton    graduates    went    as    medical 
missionaries    to    China   years    ago    and 
were  murdered   in   the  Boxer  uprising. 
Their  parents  might  well  have  said,  they 
did  not  raise  their  sons  to  die  this  hor- 
rible death.     It  might  be  said  quite  as 
[37] 


PREPAREDNESS  AND  PEACE 

well  by  the  parents  of  another  Prince- 
ton graduate,  Doctor  Ethan  Butler,  who 
is  righting  the  typhus  fever  in  Serbia, 
that  they  did  not  raise  their  son  for 
this  desperate  adventure  of  service; 
or  by  the  parents  of  Doctor  Donnelly 
and  Doctor  Magruder,  who  have  re- 
cently died  at  their  post  of  duty  in 
that  same  country  and  at  the  same 
work,  that  they  did  not  raise  their  sons 
to  be  the  victims  of  pestilential  disease. 
All,  however,  have  reared  their  sons  to 
recognize  the  compelling  truth  that  the 
call  of  duty  is  man's  sovereign  command. 
This  is  not  a  question  of  mere  aca- 
demic interest  which  we  are  discussing. 
We  as  a  nation  are  looking  into  a  future 
that  is  dark  and  mysterious.  In  the 
high  tension  of  international  hate  and 
international  suspicion  the  most  insignif- 
icant accident  may  chance  to  precipi- 
tate for  us  a  national  catastrophe.  And 
in  the  great  emergency,  if  it  should  come, 
[38] 


PREPAREDNESS  AND  PEACE 

what  shall  we  say? — Peace!  Peace  at 
any  price!  By  all  means,  let  us  pay 
any  price  which  can  buy  peace — restraint 
of  passion,  long-sufferance,  sacrifice  of 
material  wealth  or  of  every  personal 
convenience  and  comfort.  Let  us  sacri- 
fice it  all,  everything  which  can  buy 
peace.  But  let  us  not  forget  that  there 
are  some  things  which  cannot  buy  peace. 
If  we  sacrifice  them  in  order  to  secure 
peace,  the  peace  thus  sought  and  dearly 
bought  becomes  for  us  the  veriest  tor- 
ment of  a  living  hell.  We  dare  not 
trade  honor  for  peace,  we  dare  not  be- 
tray duty  in  order  that  we  may  bargain 
for  peace.  We  dare  not  indulge  our- 
selves in  the  enjoyment  of  the  blessings 
of  peace,  while  we  turn  deaf  ears  to  the 
cry  of  distress,  or  to  the  summons  of  a 
righteous  cause. 


[  39 


MIGHT  OR  RIGHT 

We  are  all  of  us  sadly  conscious  of  our 
failure  to  realize  in  any  adequate  meas- 
ure the  standards  of  right  conduct  which 
we  set  for  ourselves.  Attainment  falls 
far  short  of  purpose  and  desire.  Through 
want  of  courage,  or  it  may  be  of  in- 
clination, or  of  sheer  inertia,  we  fail  to 
obey  perfectly  the  law  of  duty  which 
we  recognize  as  imperatively  binding 
upon  us.  There  is,  however,  a  more 
subtle  kind  of  failure  as  regards  our 
moral  endeavor  and  achievement  which 
is  due  to  the  unconscious  shifting  of 
these  standards  of  right  and  wrong  them- 
selves. It  is  not  merely  that  we  fail  to 
do  that  which  we  know  to  be  right,  but 
at  times  the  very  idea  of  right  itself  is 
strangely  altered.  The  good  insensibly 
assimilates  to  itself  certain  elements  of 
[  40] 


MIGHT  OR  RIGHT 

evil  which  we  allow  and  accept  without 
full  realization  of  the  significance  of  this 
moral  alchemy  to  which  the  most  fun- 
damental of  our  ideas  are  oftentimes 
subjected.  The  idea  of  right  no  longer 
stands  in  its  integrity,  but  is  compro- 
mised and  even  neutralized  by  conflict- 
ing thoughts  and  sentiments.  The  things 
which  at  one  time  held  first  place  in  our 
estimate  of  life  become  secondary.  Our 
attitude  toward  men,  and  manners,  and 
affairs,  experiences  a  radical  change.  This 
in  most  cases  takes  place  unconsciously, 
or,  if  conscious  of  it,  we  refrain  from 
confessing  it  even  to  ourselves. 

There  are  some,  however,  who  are 
both  frank  enough  and  bold  enough  to 
announce  their  belief  in  the  radical  doc- 
trine which  demands  a  complete  trans- 
formation of  essential  values.  For  them, 
good  is  evil  and  evil  good,  and  they 
seem  not  ashamed  to  avow  it.  The 
conspicuous  German  philosopher  of  later 
[41] 


MIGHT  OR  RIGHT 

years,  Nietzsche,  with  a  naive  simplicity, 
insists  that  the  great  need  of  our  mod- 
ern civilization  is  that  which  he  desig- 
nates as  "the  transvaluation  of  all  val- 
ues." By  this  he  means  the  complete 
transformation  of  certain  ideas  of  su- 
preme value  into  their  direct  opposites. 
He  declares,  for  instance,  that  the  central 
virtues  of  Christianity  such  as  those  of 
self-sacrifice,  pity,  mercy,  indicate  an  in- 
herent weakness  of  the  human  race,  and 
that  the  strong  man  dissipates  his  en- 
ergies through  the  offices  of  kindness 
and  helpfulness.  Thus  the  law  which  com- 
mands us  to  bear  one  another's  burdens 
must  be  regarded  as  obsolete.  Every 
man  should  be  strong  enough  to  bear 
his  own  burdens.  If  not,  he  is  a  drag 
to  the  onward  progress  of  humanity, 
and  to  assist  him  is  to  do  evil  and  not 
good.  If  you  help  the  weak,  you  so 
far  forth  assist  in  perpetuating  an  in- 
ferior type  of  manhood. 
[  42  ] 


MIGHT  OR  RIGHT 

From  this  point  of  view  the  defini- 
tion of  religion  given  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment should  be  revised — "Do  justice, 
love  mercy,  and  walk  humbly  with 
thy  God."  In  doing  justice  we  must 
first  be  just  to  self;  in  loving  mercy  it 
must  not  be  at  the  expense  of  our  own 
interests  and  advantage;  and  we  must 
not  walk  so  humbly  before  our  God  as 
to  give  to  the  world  the  appearance  of 
weakness  or  lack  of  independence.  As 
Nietzsche  insists:  "The  man  who  loves 
his  neighbor  as  himself  must  have  an 
exceedingly  poor  opinion  of  himself." 
If  the  race  is  to  be  perfected,  every- 
thing and  every  person  must  be  sacri- 
ficed in  order  to  produce  and  preserve 
the  strong  man  at  all  hazards.  There 
is  a  kind  of  "moralic  acid,"  as  Nietzsche 
styles  it,  which  is  corroding  the  strength 
of  humanity  in  our  modern  day.  We 
have  discoursed  too  much  of  character, 
too  little  of  power;  too  much  of  self- 
[43] 


MIGHT  OR  RIGHT 

sacrifice,  too  little  of  self-assertion;  too 
much  of  right,  too  little  of  might. 
Conscience  not  only  interferes  with  suc- 
cess but  also  prevents  the  evolution  of 
a  superior  type  of  man,  that  superman 
who  is  not  constrained  by  duty  nor 
limited  by  law,  living  his  life,  "beyond 
good  and  evil." 

The  serious  question  which  presents 
itself  to  our  minds  at  this  time  is  whether 
our  modern  world  has  not  been  uncon- 
sciously incorporating  these  ideas  into 
its  living  beliefs — that  is,  those^beliefs 
which  reveal  themselves  in  actual  living 
and  doing,  in  daily  purpose,  in  the  adap- 
tation of  means  to  ends,  in  the  deeds 
which  the  world  honors,  and  in  the 
achievements  which  it  crowns  with  glory. 
There  are  many  persons  who  would  not 
have  the  frankness  of  Nietzsche  to  say 
that  might  makes  right,  and  that  a 
moral  sense  is  the  great  obstacle  to 
progress,  and  that  "vigorous  eras,  noble 
[  44  ] 


MIGHT  OR  RIGHT 

civilizations,  see  something  contemptible 
in  sympathy,  in  brotherly  love,  in  the 
lack  of  self-assertion  and  self-reliance." 
Our  modern  world  may  not  explicitly 
subscribe  to  such  doctrines  in  their  ex- 
treme and  exaggerated  expression,  but 
nevertheless  may  be  unconsciously  influ- 
enced by  them.  Our  real  opinions,  how- 
ever, are  to  be  tested  by  our  sense  of 
values  as  revealed  by  the  things  which 
we  crave,  which  we  set  our  hearts  upon, 
which  we  strive  early  and  late  to  gain, 
and  sacrifice  all  else  in  order  to  secure. 
Have  we  not  offered  our  prayers  to  the 
God  of  might  rather  than  the  God  of 
righteousness;  to  the  God  of  power 
rather  than  the  God  of  justice,  the  God 
of  mercy  and  of  love  ? 

The  time  has  come,  in  my  opinion, 
for  us  to  take  account  of  the  things 
which  we  really  believe  and  of  the  God 
whom  we  really  worship.  If  we  have 
been  following  false  gods,  let  us  hon- 
[45] 


MIGHT  OR  RIGHT 

estly  endeavor  to  re-establish  funda- 
mental and  essential  values,  to  discover 
anew  what  is  of  supreme  worth,  and  set 
our  faces  resolutely  toward  its  realiza- 
tion. The  need  of  our  modern  world 
to-day  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  an- 
cient world  at  the  time  of  the  coming 
of  Christ.  His  message  to  the  world,  as 
indicated  by  his  teaching  and  his  life, 
was  an  arraignment  of  the  ancient  re- 
gime as  regards  three  crucial  points. 

First,  the  religious  and  moral  beliefs 
of  that  age  had  become  purely  formal. 
There  was  the  letter  of  conviction,  but 
not  the  spirit  of  it.  The  creed,  the 
ritual,  the  ceremony  were  there,  but  the 
life  had  departed.  And  so  to-day  our 
beliefs  have  lost  vitality  to  a  large  ex- 
tent because  we  have  been  content  to 
indulge  in  formulas  oft  repeated,  which 
have  ceased  to  have  significance  for  our 
thoughts  or  for  our  feelings.  We  have 
allowed  ourselves  to  be  betrayed  by 
[46] 


MIGHT  OR  RIGHT 

words  which  are  mere  sounds  without 
substance.     We  have  verbalized  our  be- 
liefs,  and  have   depotentiated   them   of 
vital    significance.     Take,    for    instance, 
the  phrases,  "the  fatherhood  of  God" 
and  "the  brotherhood  of  man."     They 
have  been  so  often  upon  our  lips  as  to 
become   trite;     their   real   meaning   has 
disappeared.     It  is   easy  to   repeat  the 
words,  and  to  be  satisfied  with  the  repe- 
tition,  and   nevertheless   remain  wholly 
insensible  to  their  profound  import  and 
under  no  compulsion  whatsoever  to  obey 
their  sublime  command.     We  assent  to 
the  formula;    but  it  does  not  become  a 
determining  factor  in  our  purposes  and 
plans.     There  is  perhaps  no  age  in  the 
history  of  the  world  which  has  so  em- 
phasized the  idea  of  the  brotherhood  of 
man  as  our  own;    and  never  in  all  his- 
tory has  there  been  such  a  denial  of  this 
idea  as  by  the   present  European  war. 
If  the  brotherhood  of  man  had  been  the 
[47] 


MIGHT  OR  RIGHT 

living,  dominant  idea  of  our  civilization, 
could  this  present  tragedy  of  the  na- 
tions have  occurred?  If  the  world  had 
believed  profoundly  in  the  idea  of  God, 
would  we  now  be  daily  reading  of  the 
ghastly  scenes  where  human  life  is  no 
longer  sacred,  where  love  gives  place  to 
hate,  where  the  constructive  forces  of 
the  world  are  superseded  by  the  de- 
structive, and  all  the  passions  of  man's 
brute  inheritance  are  given  full  play  and 
scope  ? 

Second,  in  the  teachings  of  Christ 
there  was  a  remarkable  expansion  of 
the  idea  of  God.  Instead  of  the  tribal 
God  worshipped  as  the  God  of  Abra- 
ham, and  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  he  substi- 
tuted the  idea  of  God  as  the  Father  of 
all  peoples  and  all  races,  the  God  of 
the  Jew  and  Gentile,  of  the  Greek  and 
barbarian,  of  the  bond  and  the  free. 
It  was  the  great  apostle  of  the  Gentiles 
who,  at  the  centre  of  Greek  civilization, 
[48] 


MIGHT  OR  RIGHT 

announced  this  fundamental  conception 
of  Christianity  to  the  old  world:  "God 
hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of 
men  for  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the 
earth." 

This  was  the  sublime  idea  of  the  God 
of  a  united  humanity.     The  God  of  the 
tribe  had  given  place  to  the  God  of  the 
whole  world.     That  conception  was  very 
foreign  to  the  popular  religious  notions 
current  at  the  time   of   Christ,   and  it 
seems  still  farther  away  from  our  ideas 
of  the  present  day.     It  is  a  very  nar- 
row and  circumscribed  view  of  God  to 
regard  him  as  concerned  merely  for  our 
little  insular  affairs,  to  regard  him  sim- 
ply as  a  God  of  the  individual  or  of 
the   home,    or   even    one's   nation.     He 
transcends  all  these  limitations  of  par- 
ticular   interests    and    particular   needs. 
He  is  not  merely  our  God  but  the  God 
of  all  mankind.     The  children  of  Israel 
called  him  the  God  of  battle,  the  Lord 
[49] 


MIGHT  OR  RIGHT 

of  hosts — that  is,  the  one  who,  like  the 
gods  of  Homer,  would  give  victory  to 
them  in  their  battles  and  who  would 
prove  the  personal  leader  of  their  hosts. 
But  Christ  came  to  the  world  in  God's 
name  to  universalize  this  narrow  tribal 
idea  of  God,  proclaiming  peace  on  earth 
and  good  will  to  men.  It  was  the  dawn  of 
a  new  era,  the  Christian  era.  That  light 
which  shone  upon  the  old  world  is  dark- 
ened by  the  cloud  hanging  low  over 
Europe  at  the  present  time.  We  can- 
not think,  however,  that  it  is  perma- 
nently extinguished.  To  that  light  the 
nations  of  the  earth  must  again  re- 
turn. 

Third,  Christ  gave  to  the  world  of 
his  day  an  enlarged  idea  of  the  area 
of  moral  obligation.  He  insisted  most 
stoutly  upon  the  expansion  of  the  scope 
of  individual  responsibility.  This  free- 
ing of  the  idea  of  duty  from  the  limi- 
tations of  race  prejudice  is  a  natural 
[50] 


MIGHT  OR  RIGHT 

corollary  to  the  idea  of  the  universality 
of  God's  relation  to  the  world.  Corre- 
sponding to  the  tribal  view  of  God  there 
is  always  an  accompanying  idea  of  the 
restricted  obligation  of  the  individual. 
To  care  for  one's  own  family  or  one's 
own  clan  or  tribe  and  present  a  hos- 
tile front  to  the  rest  of  mankind  has 
always  been  the  characteristic  feature  of 
primitive  morality.  It  was  peculiarly 
the  teaching  of  Christ  which  brought  to 
the  world  the  idea  that  the  area  of 
moral  obligation  is  co-extensive  with  the 
world  itself.  There  are  no  racial  or  na- 
tional lines  which  can  limit  the  extent 
of  our  responsibility.  The  world  to-day 
needs  to  learn  this  lesson  anew,  and 
it  is  evident  that  it  must  acquire  this 
knowledge  through  bitter  and  desperate 
experiences.  The  natural  tendency  of 
human  nature  is  to  particularize  our  re- 
lations to  God  and  bound  our  relations 
to  our  fellow  men;  to  narrow  our  rela- 
[51] 


MIGHT  OR  RIGHT 

tions  to  God  so  as  to  embrace  only  our 
direst  needs,  and  to  circumscribe  our  re- 
lations to  man  so  as  to  include  in  the 
field  of  responsibility  only  those  who 
are  our  kin  or  our  own  kind.  The  time 
has  certainly  come  for  us  to  take  larger 
views  of  the  world,  of  man,  and  of  God. 
There  is  a  great  moral  and  spiritual  en- 
terprise in  which  the  young  men  of  our 
land  may  play  a  large  and  significant 
part.  We  look  to  them  to  express  strong 
and  decided  opinions  in  the  face  of  a 
great  world  crisis  and  to  lead  others  to- 
ward the  goal  of  a  regenerated  human- 
ity. To  know  the  right  and  to  main- 
tain it,  to  fight  against  the  wrong,  to 
impart  courage  to  the  timid,  strength  to 
the  weak,  and  hope  to  the  faint-hearted, 
to  forget  self  in  the  service  of  others,  and 
extend  a  human  sympathy  to  the  ends 
of  the  earth — this  is  the  great  vocation. 
It  is  the  call  of  the  world,  it  is  the  voice 
of  one  calling  out  of  a  distant  past 
[52] 


MIGHT  OR  RIGHT 

across  the  nineteen  Christian  centuries; 
it  is  the  "spirit  of  the  years  to  come" 
summoning  men  to  establish  the  King- 
dom of  God  upon  earth. 


[53] 


MARTIAL  VALOR  IN  TIMES 
OF  PEACE 

When  Joab  saw  that  the  front  of  the 
battle  was  against  him  before  and  behind, 
he  chose  of  all  the  choice  men  of  Israel,  and 
put  them  in  array  against  the  Syrians: 

And  the  rest  of  the  people  he  delivered 
into  the  hand  of  Abishai  his  brother,  that 
he  might  put  them  in  array  against  the 
children  of  Ammon. 

And  he  said,  If  the  Syrians  be  too  strong 
for  me,  then  thou  shalt  help  me:  but  if  the 
children  of  Ammon  be  too  strong  for  thee, 
then  I  will  come  and  help  thee. 

Be  of  good  courage  and  let  us  play  the 
men  for  our  people,  and  for  the  cities  of  our 
God:  and  the  Lord  do  that  which  seemeth 
him  good.— II  Sam.  10  :  9-12. 

The  scene  which  these  words  picture 

is    a    characteristic    description    of    the 

spirit  which  is  provoked  by  war  among 

a  people  who  believe  they  are  fighting 

[54] 


MARTIAL  VALOR  IN  TIMES  OF  PEACE 

for  a  righteous  cause — the  choice  men 
of  the  nation  called  to  take  their  stand 
at  the  place  of  greatest  danger,  united 
by  the  common  bond  of  mutual  co- 
operation and  helpfulness,  fired  by  the 
spirit  of  courage  and  manly  endeavor, 
and  experiencing  withal  a  quickening  of 
religious  zeal  and  enthusiasm.  It  would 
be  a  pity,  a  very  tragedy  indeed,  if  the 
youth  of  Europe  should  attain  this  new 
view  of  life  through  their  present  des- 
perate conflict,  and  here,  in  this  land  of 
peace  far  from  the  horror  and  disaster 
of  war,  our  young  men  should  fail  of 
such  a  vision,  and  a  new  birth  of  moral 
and  spiritual  power.  There  are  some 
who  have  formulated  for  themselves 
a  philosophy  of  national  destiny  which 
maintains  that  war  is  a  dire  necessity  in 
order  to  regenerate  and  reinvigorate  a 
people  fast  approaching  a  decadent  state 
due  to  the  deteriorating  forces  of  ma- 
terial greed  and  the  emasculating  influ- 
[55] 


MARTIAL  VALOR  IN  TIMES  OF  PEACE 

ence  of  luxurious  ease  and  self-indulgence. 
From  such  a  point  of  view  war  is  the 
great  national  prophylactic.  It  is  in- 
sisted that  war  arrests  national  disease 
and  decay,  revives  the  national  con- 
science, unifies  a  people,  and  gives  a 
new  meaning  to  the  spirit  of  loyalty 
and  sacrifice;  that  it  is  only  by  the 
baptism  of  fire  and  blood  that  the  re- 
generation of  a  nation  can  be  accom- 
plished. Thus  a  new  national  conse- 
cration is  born  of  national  peril  and  is 
maintained  even  through  national  defeat. 
Is  this  the  only  way  to  realize  the 
true  end  of  a  people's  destiny?  Must 
we  confess  that  it  is  necessary  for  us 
first  to  descend  into  hell  before  we  can 
begin  to  climb  the  steep  ascent  of  heaven  ? 
Who  can  answer  this  question?  I  can- 
not. We  of  an  older  generation  can- 
not answer  it.  The  answer  is  with  you 
of  the  coming  generation,  you  who  are 
to  play  your  part  in  the  new  day  of 
f  56  1 


MARTIAL  VALOR  IN  TIMES  OF  PEACE 

your  labors  in  the  world  awaiting  you. 
I  am  profoundly  convinced  that  it  is 
possible  for  you  to  prove  in  your  own 
lives  that  martial  valor  may  be  illus- 
trated in  times  of  peace  as  well  as  in 
war. 

Let  us  not  deceive  ourselves  that 
peace  is  in  itself  a  blessing.  We  can 
make  it  a  blessing;  but  we  can  make 
it  a  curse  as  well.  The  old  Hebrew 
prophet,  you  remember,  declared  the 
curse  of  Moab  in  the  words:  "Moab 
hath  been  at  ease  from  his  youth,  and  he 
hath  settled  on  his  lees,  and  hath  not 
been  emptied  from  vessel  to  vessel,  neither 
hath  he  gone  into  captivity:  therefore 
his  taste  remained  in  him  and  his  scent 
is  not  changed."  Moab  failed  to  with- 
stand the  test  of  peace  and  prosperity; 
therefore  was  compelled  to  suffer  ac- 
cordingly. 

What  is  peace?  Peace  is  a  situation, 
an  external  setting,  the  guarantee  of  a  free 
[57] 


MARTIAL  VALOR  IN  TIMES  OF  PEACE 

exercise  of  all  our  powers,  without  fear  of 
the  menace  or  intrusion  of  a  foreign  foe  to 
challenge  or  control  that  freedom.  How 
will  man  use  his  freedom  thus  guaranteed 
by  peace  ?  How  will  a  nation  realize  the 
rightful  fruits  of  liberty  where  its  own 
sovereign  purposes  know  neither  let  nor 
hindrance?  We  often  speak  of  a  peace- 
ful scene  in  nature.  Man  enters,  and 
the  place  of  peace  may  become  the  set- 
ting for  murder  or  a  retreat  for  prayer. 
Peace  is  the  clean  sheet  upon  which  man 
may  write  the  record  for  good  or  ill;  it 
is  the  opportunity  which  man  may  no- 
bly use  or  shamefully  abuse;  it  is  the 
unknown  quantity  to  which  the  human 
factor  alone  can  give  determinate  value. 
Who,  then,  will  lead  the  way  in  the  reali- 
zation of  the  true  possibilities  of  peace? 
Who  will  prove  that  the  spirit  of  peace 
may  become  the  spirit  of  valor,  and  as- 
sure the  solidarity  and  progress  of  our 
nation  ?  Who  but  the  choice  men  of  our 
[  58  1 


MARTIAL  VALOR  IN  TIMES  OF  PEACE 

land — the  men  of  exceptional  privilege, 
who  by  a  process  of  natural  selection 
have  passed  from  one  degree  of  excel- 
lence to  another  in  the  arduous  disci- 
pline of  mind  and  character  through 
years  of  preparation  for  a  life  of  service? 
When  facing  the  peril  of  war,  it  is 
this  type  of  man  who  has  always  re- 
sponded most  readily  and  most  promptly 
to  his  country's  call  to  arms.  In  the 
crisis  of  peace,  a  crisis  fraught  with  the 
untold  possibility  of  good  or  evil,  the 
need  of  such  initiative  and  such  example 
is  none  the  less  imperative.  The  choice 
men  for  the  position  of  difficulty  and 
of  danger — this  is  the  natural  necessity 
and  programme  of  war.  Peculiar  ability 
creates  peculiar  obligation.  It  is  the 
toll  which  life  exacts  of  excellence  of  any 
kind  whatsoever.  Peace  as  well  as  war 
calls  for  the  self-sacrificing  activities  of 
superior  men.  But  it  may  be  urged 
that  peace  has  no  particular  danger,  no 
[59] 


MARTIAL  VALOR  IN  TIMES  OF  PEACE 

particular  difficulty,  such  as  war  presents. 
The  danger  and  difficulty  are  not  the 
same — that  I  admit.  But  peace  has  its 
difficulties  and  dangers  quite  as  real. 
They  are  not  so  evident,  however.  They 
are  indirect,  invisible,  subtle,  infinitely 
complicated  and  far-reaching  in  their 
effects.  The  danger  which  is  imminent 
and  immediate  we  brace  ourselves  to 
meet  because  we  must.  The  danger 
which  is  remote  and  problematical  it  is 
natural  to  ignore. 

We  fail,  moreover,  to  reckon  with  those 
dangers  which  may  not  affect  our  own 
day  and  generation.  There  is  a  certain 
crude  and  cruel  selfishness  attaching  to 
each  living  generation  which  induces  a 
singular  disregard  of  the  generation  to 
come.  So  long  as  we  do  not  reap  the 
harvest  of  our  sowing,  let  those  who  are 
to  follow,  we  say,  meet  their  own  dangers 
and  perils  as  best  they  may.  If  this  is 
not  a  conscious  utterance  in  defense  of 
[60] 


MARTIAL  VALOR  IN  TIMES  OF  PEACE 

present-day  neglect  of  social  and  national 
obligations,  it  is  at  least  the  unconscious 
working  hypothesis  of  many  who  would 
enjoy  the  comfort  and  convenience  of 
the  day  of  peace,  while  wholly  oblivious 
to  that  sense  of  duty  which  the  true 
appreciation  of  such  privileges  naturally 
creates. 

The  first  recognition  of  the  duty  aris- 
ing from  the  peace  and  the  liberty  which 
our  republic  provides  comes  with  the 
realization  that  we  are  not  a  mass  of 
many  millions  of  separate  individuals, 
each  with  his  own  particular  interests 
to  maintain  and  preserve,  but  that  we 
are  one  people,  enlisted  in  the  service 
of  a  common  cause.  This  idea  of  a 
common  cause  which  is  the  inspiration 
of  all  the  heroic  deeds  of  self-sacrifice 
in  the  time  of  war,  we  must  endeavor 
in  some  way  to  make  potent  in  the  ac- 
tivities and  pursuits  of  our  people  in 
the  time  of  peace.  All  soldiers  are  com- 
[61] 


MARTIAL  VALOR  IN  TIMES  OF  PEACE 

rades  in  arms.  Can  we  not  also  recog- 
nize the  bonds  of  comradeship  in  the 
common  work  of  the  world,  in  our  com- 
mon lot  and  our  common  destiny  as 
brother  men?  Is  it  not  possible  to  feel 
the  thrill  of  comradeship  in  our  common 
fight  against  the  forces  of  ignorance,  of 
evil,  of  vice,  of  intemperance,  of  injus- 
tice, of  disease  and  premature  death? 
To  save  his  comrade  from  death  when 
under  fire  the  true  soldier  will  run  every 
risk  of  personal  danger  and  hold  his  own 
life  cheap  in  his  all-absorbing  work  of 
rescue.  Amidst  the  perils  of  peace  you 
too  will  hear  the  call  for  help  from  many 
a  comrade  against  whom  the  tide  of  cir- 
cumstance is  running  hard. 

In  the  early  career  of  David  there 
gathered  about  him  a  band  of  soldiers 
at  the  cave  of  Adullam,  desperate  men, 
"every  one  that  was  in  distress,  every 
one  that  was  in  debt,  and  every  one 
that  was  discontented." 
[62] 


MARTIAL  VALOR  IN  TIMES  OF  PEACE 

War  has  a  peculiar  fascination  for 
men  of  this  type,  men  who  have  had  a 
chance  in  life  and  have  failed  to  realize 
its  possibilities,  men  whose  adverse  con- 
dition from  birth  has  seemed  to  deny 
them  every  chance,  men  also  who  have 
lacked  the  resolution  to  make  a  chance 
for  themselves  in  spite  of  untoward  con- 
ditions. Conscious  of  the  galling  burden 
of  a  useless  life,  they  hail  the  opportu- 
nity of  war,  that  at  last  they  may  prove 
themselves  of  some  service  in  the  de- 
fense of  the  common  cause  of  their 
country.  Such  lives  may  be  made  valua- 
ble in  times  of  peace  also  if  they  can  be 
saved  from  becoming  a  part  of  the 
wreckage  of  a  nation.  You  will  find 
them  in  the  communities  of  which  you 
are  to  become  active  citizens  and  where 
you  are  to  play  your  part  in  the  work 
of  the  world.  You  cannot  escape  them. 
They  will  be  at  your  very  doors.  They 
need  some  one  to  think  for  them,  to 
[63] 


MARTIAL  VALOR  IN  TIMES  OF  PEACE 

plan  for  them,  and  to  rally  their  broken 
spirits  to  engage  in  some  enterprise  which 
will  provide  them  scope  in  a  united  ef- 
fort to  realize  a  higher  and  better  order 
of  life.  There  is  no  village  or  city  in 
this  land  in  which  there  is  not  some 
potential  power  for  good  of  this  kind, 
power  however  inoperative,  power  gone 
to  waste,  or,  as  so  often  happens,  power 
which  is  basely  misdirected  in  the  courses 
of  evil.  To  make  this  power  actual  and 
to  direct  it  toward  useful  ends  requires 
thought,  sympathy,  and  patience,  and 
above  all  the  overpowering  sense  of  the 
common  bond  which  unites  all  men  of 
all  classes  in  a  common  lot  and  destiny. 
It  would  be  well  for  us  to  recognize 
and  confess  that  the  great  obstacle  to 
the  progress  of  our  people  in  the  devel- 
opment of  national  vigor  and  rectitude 
is  the  growth  of  a  selfish  individualism 
which  has  no  thought  for  the  common 
good  and  the  public  weal.  In  a  letter 
[64] 


MARTIAL  VALOR  IN  TIMES  OF  PEACE 

recently  written  by  a  young  British  offi- 
cer to  his  mother  a  few  days  before  he 
was  killed  in  action,  there  were  found 
these  words: 

Units,  individuals,  cannot  count.  We  live 
our  little  lives  and  die.  To  some  are  given 
chances  of  proving  themselves  men,  and  to 
others  no  chance  comes.  Whatever  our  in- 
dividual faults,  virtues,  or  qualities  may  be, 
it  matters  not;  for,  when  we  are  up  against 
big  things,  let  us  forget  individuals  and  let 
us  act  as  one  great  unit,  united  and  fearless. 
Some  will  live  and  many  will  die,  but  count 
the  loss  not.  It  is  better  far  to  go  out  with 
honor  than  survive  with  shame. 

Is  it  possible  that  the  manifestation 
of  such  a  spirit  is  necessarily  confined 
to  the  scenes  of  war?  Is  a  nation's 
honor  at  stake  only  in  times  of  immi- 
nent peril?  I  crave  for  every  one  of 
you  a  like  spirit  of  consecration  for  the 
tasks  of  peace.  Forget  yourself  as  an 
individual,  be  willing  to  lose  yourself  in 
the  mass,  work  in  it  and  through  it  for 
[65] 


MARTIAL  VALOR  IN  TIMES  OF  PEACE 

the  integrity  of  the  whole.  No  nation 
has  ever  been  conquered  by  a  foe  from 
without  unless  there  has  been  developed 
some  inherent  weakness  within.  If  we 
can  withstand  the  dangers  of  peace  we 
need  never  fear  the  danger  of  war. 
You  too  will  soon  be  up  against  great 
things;  therefore  be  of  good  courage 
and  play  the  men  for  your  people. 
To  be  of  service  in  pursuing  the  offices 
of  peace  requires  a  peculiar  courage  and 
manly  spirit.  In  peace  your  duty  will 
not  come  to  you  as  it  does  when  there 
is  a  call  to  arms  with  the  enemy  already 
crossing  your  country's  frontier.  You 
must  go  forth  to  meet  it.  You  must 
either  discover  your  duty  or  else  create 
it,  and  then  swear  allegiance  in  your 
own  name  to  its  high  behests.  Cen- 
turies ago  the  knight  errant  rode  forth 
on  the  adventure  of  service,  to  cham- 
pion the  cause  of  the  weak  and  the 
wronged  wherever  they  might  be  found. 
[66] 


MARTIAL  VALOR  IN  TIMES  OF  PEACE 

For  him  there  was  no  clear  call  to 
any  definite  undertaking.  But,  compelled 
by  the  knightly  spirit,  he  resolutely  set 
himself  to  seek  the  undiscovered  duty 
somewhere  beyond  the  far  horizon.  There 
is  no  place  in  our  modern  days  for  this 
type  of  noble  adventurer.  He  has  dis- 
appeared with  the  conditions  and  oppor- 
tunities of  the  age  in  which  he  flourished. 
But  the  same  spirit  may  reappear  in  an- 
other form,  to  meet  the  needs  of  another 
age,  again 

"To  serve  as  model  for  the  mighty  world 
And  be  the  fair  beginning  of  a  time." 

It  may  be  regarded  by  some  as  the  ex- 
pression of  a  too  extravagant  optimism 
if  we  declare  our  belief  that  the  world 
is  entering  upon  a  new  time  in  its  his- 
tory, a  new  order  of  things,  in  which  the 
law  of  justice  and  the  spirit  of  mercy 
will  universally  prevail.  The  very  dark- 
ness, however,  of  the  present  time  creates 
[67] 


MARTIAL  VALOR  IN  TIMES  OF  PEACE 

a  persistent  belief  that  there  must  be 
some  brighter  light  ahead.  No  robust 
spirit  can  be  permanently  pessimistic. 
You  are  called  to  play  a  part  in  the 
building  of  a  new  world.  Such  a  voca- 
tion is  your  inspiration. 

Moreover,  he  who  has  felt  within  him 
the  compulsion  of  a  commanding  cause 
is  led  instinctively  to  recognize  the  fact 
that  the  sacrifices  of  duty  thus  self-im- 
posed are  an  offering  on  the  high  altar 
of  the  eternal  God.  Patriotism  in  war 
is  usually  crowned  with  religious  zeal  and 
enthusiasm,  sometimes  with  reason,  some- 
times without.  The  spiritual  impulse  is 
elemental;  great  occasions  always  tend 
to  revive  it.  Shall  not  the  patriotism 
of  peace  also  realize  that  the  better  order 
of  things  for  which  it  strives  is  in  some 
manner  identified  with  the  establishment 
of  the  kingdom  of  God  on  the  earth? 
There  are  some  who,  all  too  readily  dis- 
couraged, complain  bitterly  that  the  pres- 
[68] 


MARTIAL  VALOR  IN  TIMES  OF  PEACE 

ent  European  tragedy  proves  Christian- 
ity a  failure.  On  the  contrary,  I  believe 
that  Christianity  is  approaching  its  su- 
preme test.  It  rests  with  the  coming 
generation,  to  which  you  belong,  to  re- 
store to  the  law  and  love  of  Christ  its 
ancient  power.  The  will  to  believe  is 
sufficient  to  carry  the  strongly  intrenched 
height  in  the  face  of  the  enemy's  fire. 
The  will  to  believe  is  powerful  also  to 
cause  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his  Christ 
to  prevail  against  the  evil  of  the  world, 
"against  the  principalities,  against  the 
powers,  against  the  spiritual  hosts  of 
wickedness  in  the  heavenly  places." 

I  am  told  that  several  years  before 
the  present  war  there  was  formed  in 
France  a  league  of  young  men  for  the 
purpose  of  the  moral  and  spiritual  re- 
generation of  the  youth  of  their  coun- 
try and  the  consequent  development  of 
a  nobler  type  of  manhood.  They  called 
themselves  the  Young  France.  I  would 
[69] 


MARTIAL  VALOR  IN  TIMES  OF  PEACE 

that  you,  in  the  vigor  of  your  enthusiasm 
and  ambition,  might  emulate  this  splen- 
did enterprise,  and  endeavor  through 
the  consecrated  spirit  of  a  Young  Amer- 
ica to  bring  a  new  promise  and  a  new 
hope  to  your  native  land,  and  through 
your  land  to  the  whole  earth. 

This  year  of  your  graduation,  1915, 
will  prove  a  memorable  year  in  the 
world's  history,  a  year  of  war  and  dis- 
aster whose  dark  shadows  have  fallen 
upon  the  whole  earth.  This  year  must  be 
redeemed  by  the  labors  of  the  years  im- 
mediately to  follow,  your  working  years, 
the  years  of  your  opportunity,  which  will 
call  for  extraordinary  men  to  meet  the 
exigencies  of  extraordinary  times,  strong 
men  to  undertake  the  difficult  task,  to 
bear  the  heavy  burden,  to  pursue  the 
hazardous  enterprise — men  of  conviction 
and  of  courage,  capable  of  forgetting  their 
own  interests  in  following  the  sovereign 
call  of  duty.  One  of  the  most  pitiful 
170] 


MARTIAL  VALOR  IN  TIMES  OF  PEACE 

characters  described  in  the  range  of  fic- 
tion is  that  of  "the  man  without  a  coun- 
try." Equally  pitiful,  it  seems  to  me, 
in  this  day  of  the  world's  need,  is  the 
man  without  a  cause,  a  cause  to  serve, 
to  maintain  and  defend  even  to  the  sac- 
rificing of  one's  own  life.  The  greatest 
misfortune  that  can  possibly  overtake 
you  is  to  follow  the  fashion  prevailing 
in  some  quarters  to-day  of  repressing  all 
enthusiasm,  and  from  a  detached  point 
of  view  to  regard  with  cold  indifference 
the  labor  and  struggle  of  your  brother 
men. 

I  refuse  to  entertain  the  idea  even  as 
a  possibility  that  any  life  before  me  is 
going  to  waste,  self-centred,  self-indul- 
gent, and  self -destroying.  For  every  one 
of  you  I  hope  and  pray  there  may  come, 
in  the  closing  hours  of  your  university 
career,  some  mighty  inspiration  of  a  holy 
cause,  some  vision,  indistinct,  far  away, 
it  may  be,  of  the  Holy  Grail  for  you  to 

r  7i  i 


MARTIAL  VALOR  IN  TIMES  OF  PEACE 

seek  and  for  you  to  find.  It  is  my  ear- 
nest wish  for  you  all  that  you  may  attain 
an  abundant  measure  of  success  in  the 
life  before  you,  but  I  would  remind  you 
that  the  secret  of  success  may  be  found 
in  the  words  of  the  blameless  knight, 
Sir  Galahad,  as  he  started  upon  the  holy 
mission  of  his  adventurous  career: 

"If  I  lose  myself,  I  save  myself." 


[72] 


